Sacrifices and Charity

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Tis_Bearself

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I’ve really been getting some mixed messages this Lent about sacrifices and charity. Today’s gospel, as well as several recent homilies, have been all about how it’s more important to love God/ your neighbor (variously expressed as making more time for prayer, welcoming refugees, being nicer to your family, donating to charities etc) than it is to make “sacrifices” like “giving something up for Lent”.

While I understand the idea that “giving something up” without charity behind it is an empty concept, it gets hard to balance these homilies about “God doesn’t want sacrifices” with other ones that tell us God is calling on us to make sacrifices for penance and reparation and anti-materialism, etc, not to mention the fasting that some people are doing as part of prayer group activities. St. Augustine taught that prayer, fasting, and charity should go together. Other than one of the local Lifeteen groups, I’m not seeing too many churches actually getting this holistic approach across (outside of maybe a few prayer groups that consist mainly of people who are already practicing this message and not just in Lent).

Anybody else feel like the Lent message is being presented in a disjointed way?
 
Marcus G. from the journey home on ewtn would probably say “both and” not “either or”. Kind of like what you wrote about what St. Augustine taught.
 
I feel like the sacrifices arent for God, but for ourselves and the strengthening of our wills against sin.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
it gets hard to balance these homilies about “God doesn’t want sacrifices” with other ones that tell us God is calling on us to make sacrifices for penance and reparation and anti-materialism
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When Sacred Scripture (and homilies) state, “I don’t desire sacrifice, but…”, this doesn’t mean that God does not desire sacrifice, but He that He does not desire empty and meaningless sacrifice; a problem Jews were often guilty of, hence Jesus quoting that Scripture to the Pharisees. The most essential and important part of our faith is the Sacrifice of the Mass, in which pure, unfeigned charity is what that Sacrifice is, namely mercy itself! And, to be given the divine privilege of uniting our sacrifices with that ultimate Sacrifice, fueled by love for God and neighbor, is what He desires!
 
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While strengthening the will might be a good side effect, for me to “give something up” doesn’t have much effect in helping me to resist a sin unrelated to the thing being given up. I have always approached sacrifice from the standpoint of either giving something up so another can have it, and thus being selfless, or else from the standpoint of making a sacrifice for penance and reparation to Jesus or Mary (as in Fatima devotion, like the children who made sacrifices like going without lunch for reparation to Jesus, for the Holy Father, and to save sinners).

It has always been my understanding that God was pleased with such sacrifices because of the intent behind them and the spirit in which they were offered.
 
AugustTherese said:
When Sacred Scripture (and homilies) state, “I don’t desire sacrifice, but…”, this doesn’t mean that God does not desire sacrifice, but He that He does not desire empty and meaningless sacrifice; a problem Jews were often guilty of, hence Jesus quoting that Scripture to the Pharisees.
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Yes, I agree, and you’ve stated it very clearly. Better than most of the priests seem to be doing.
 
As to the first sentence of this post. Think moderation. Giving something up seemingly unrelated can help us to be more moderate overall.
 
one of the principal acts of charity is to give to one who is loved a good which will be useful to him. And the more it has cost us, the more it shows the quality of our love. Thus the poor widow, who had given the two coins which were all she possessed, had done a greater act of charity because she had taken it from her necessities.
When a man gives of his necessities and not of his superfluity, he is said to have made a sacrifice. So sacrifice is not opposed to charity or mercy, it is rather the sign of perfect charity.

The human being has three great goods:
The external goods (money),the goods of the body, the goods of the soul
  • External goods are sacrificed to God by alms, and this sacrifice is perfect when it is done to become poor. God receives this sacrifice through those who are in need
  • The goods of our body are sacrificed to God by fasting and corporal mortifications.
  • The goods of the soul are sacrificed by internal mortifications acts especialy the sacrifice of our own will
    Finally, it is prayer that brings all these sacrifices to God.
God needs all these sacrifices to satisfy his justice , and to make us win the merits for our glory in the heaven
 
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I try to “give up” something that has a “positive” attached to it. I agree that seemingly empty sacrifices seem somewhat futile, even if they are heroic in God’s eyes. For example, although I’ve slipped a couple of times this Lent, I stopped using the internet after 4:00 p.m. every day (that’s the time I get home from work). I used to scroll aimlessly, read forums, etc. for a couple hours. It has been mildly difficult, but I am using some of that time for more prayer and spiritual reading. I can definitely say it has made me grow closer to God to both begin and end the day with Him.

I have always had a hard time fasting from food, so my aim this Lent is to eat simply and healthy, to truly nourish the body. (Of course, I do observe the Church’s fast and abstinence rules). Just doing what healthy people do when they eat is a lot for me. So the positive side of this is better health in body and mind.
 
I guess it depends on where you are and how the homily explains the gospel. It is a complex message or a really simple one depending on your take on it. The way I see it or honestly the way it’s been presented to me is that the two concepts are the same. Loving God/neighbour etc. (variously expressed as you said) and sacrifices are the same thing. I don’t know about you but to me they are one and the same, let start with our neighbours, be they family or strangers. I live closely with people I barely know, but as I spoke to my Lent group the other day and do we ever chose the people we live with? except perhaps the vocation of marriage (husband and wife), we don’t choose our mom and dad or children they are gifted to us. So our neighbours/family, isn’t that a sacrifice, each and every day, to bear the annoyances and anxieties with patience and love. We can rant and rave against the unfairness of things or we can smile and accept our lot and offer it to the Lord as a little sacrifice of love of our neighbour. I think that’s how the two are the same. Community life is not easy and many of us live it, in family or those of us who simply life close to others.
As for God not wanting sacrifices, isn’t that about wanting a contrite heart… one of the psalms (51 I think) . So again it links with the other two for the times I fail, I am not always able to give those sacrifices and love my neighbour sometimes I am angry I am woken up yet again by slamming doors or annoyed by other trivial things. I am sure mothers and other people who live in families or on such situations shout at their kids/neighbours husbands/ wives and later examine the conscience and weep in sorrow for lost patience missed moments and offer God that contrite heart. Then the sacrifice is good again so says the Psalm.
Anyway this is just my understanding and how it seems to be being told to me.
I do think you are right though that there is a lot of room for things to be misunderstood, but I think that people are also required to put some work in themselves and ask God for help, itsn’t that what the crossing out head, lips and heart is about during listening to the gospel. It would indeed be sad for the message to be missed or to be disjointed in any way.
 
My parish priest offered a thought that is more simplistic than what you are looking for, but it made all of the sense in the world to me. Does your Lenten action or in action result in you becoming closer to God by the end of the Lenten season? For the vast majority of us, it is a good place to start. It has encouraged me to find new ways each day to grow closer to God, I now have my long term Lenten pledge to God, and many short term pledges that are bringing me closer. Hopefully, I will end the season permanently changed for the better.
 
I feel like that is what programs like “Best Lent Ever” are trying to accomplish - get closer to God in 5 minutes per day.

I honestly don’t know if Lent specifically ends up bringing me closer to God, because I am trying to do that pretty much every day and every week, not just when Lent rolls around. This is the second year that Lent has very much been on my mind. Last year, I accomplished very little in the way of goals during Lent itself, though perhaps thinking about them paved the way for me to accomplish more later. This year, I am doing better, but my goals may have been overambitious in some respects. I get a little frustrated during Lent because many of the programs and homilies seem to assume that people don’t think about God or prayer on a daily basis and need a wake-up call. I’m past that point and need the “level 2 course”.
 
The widow’s mite comes to mind…she gave out of her poverty, not out of her excess.

This shows that sacrifice and charity go hand in hand…giving alms out of excess is a charitable act to the needy recipient, but it does not show our imitating Christ…which might relate to giving “something up” for Lent…Christ gave his life, and so we feel it sufficient to give up our coffee, chocolate, beer, etc…

The commandments are divided into our relationship with God (1-3), and our relationship with our fellow man (4-10).

So in almsgiving we should be addressing our love for both God (by sacrificing by giving more than our excess), and to our neighbor (by simply giving).
 
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